Patrick Mouratoglou has coached some top tennis players on both the ATP and WTA Tour during his career.
The Frenchman has worked with Serena Williams, Stefanos Tsitsipas and more recently, Naomi Osaka.
Mouratoglou recently shared why he split with Osaka after working with her earlier during 2025, amid her upturn in form.
At the recent Grand Slam, Mouratoglou bemoaned something about the US Open, with the organisers making some changes to proceedings.
There isn’t much that gets by Mouratoglou when it comes to tennis, and now he’s critiqued one player for the way they grip their racket.
Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty ImagesPatrick Mouratoglou bemoans Mayar Sherif’s forehand
Sherif has struggled during 2025, with the Egyptian player losing more matches than she has won on the WTA Tour this year.
Sherif has a technical flaw with her forehand that Mouratoglou has now highlighted and offered some advice on.
He said on Instagram: “This is the grip of the Egyptian player, Mayar Sherif. The problem with the grip is that the only way to hit a forehand is with the arm bent, which is different to the best forehands in the world that hit the forehand with the arm fully extended.
“How do you work when you have a low-ball, a slice ball? You also lose a lot of power. If you think about it, you’re not playing with the right side of the hand, so when you want to switch to an extreme grip, it’s completely different.
“Gripping like that she plays with a lot of spin on the ball, so it’s not very fast and has a lot of spin, where if she played with an extended arm, she’d have more power, look at Federer and Alcaraz, they’re fully extended and their forehands get so much more power.”
Mayar Sherif endures poor 2025
It does feel as though Sherif needs to iron out these flaws in her forehand if she is to improve on her current world ranking of 88.
The Cairo native has been as high as number 31 in the rankings and has proved in the past that she can find some consistency to progress.
EventOpponentScoreAustralian OpenDayana Yastremska1-6, 4-6French OpenLiudmila Samsanova6-7, 2-6WimbledonMirra Andreeva3-6, 3-6US OpenJessica Pegula0-6, 4-6Mayar Sherif’s Grand Slam first round exits 2025
However, 2025 has been drab for the 29-year-old, with the player failing at the first hurdle in all four of the Grand Slam tournaments.
When Mouratoglou talks about tennis, people tend to listen, and with that in mind, it now feels like time for the Egyptian to tweak her forehand and enter her thirties with a better forehand.
Sherif is entering the last chance saloon after a relatively underwhelming career; it feels like now or never to iron out this fundamental flaw in her technique.